In modem "enterprise" digital data processing systems, that is, computer systems for use in an office environment in a company, a number of personal computers, workstations, and other devices such as mass storage subsystems, network printers and interfaces to the public telephony system, are typically interconnected in a computer network. The personal computers and workstations (generally, "computers") are used by individual users to perform processing in connection with data and programs that may be stored in the network mass storage subsystems. In such an arrangement, the computers, operating as clients, access the data and programs from the network mass storage subsystems for processing. In addition, the computers will enable processed data to be uploaded to the network mass storage subsystems for storage, to a network printer for printing, to the telephony interface for transmission over the public telephony system, or the like. In such an arrangement, the network mass storage subsystems, network printers and telephony interface operate as servers, since they are available to service requests from all of the clients in the network. By organizing the network in such a manner, the servers are readily available for use by all of the computers the network. Such a network may be spread over a fairly wide area, with the computers being interconnected by communication links such as electrical wires or optic fibers.
Typically in a network, information that a network administrator or other manager may need in order to manage the network is distributed over a number of computers in the network and may be in a number of schemas and formats. To provide a central location for the management information, a network administrator will to retrieve the files containing the management information from the disparate locations throughout the network at which they are located and copy them to a management information server, and convert them to a standard schema and format. Currently, each of these operations is handled separately, with the network administrator using separate tools to copy the files to the management information server, compilers to perform the file conversion, and loaders to load the management information from the converted files into the management information server's working memory. A problem can develop in that use of these diverse tools can lead be complex and prone to error.